DUSTIN DAGGETT CASHES IN AT THE NORTHERN SUMMER NATIONALS

by Tommy Goudge (July 2, 2010) – Dustin Daggett and his crew brought a brand new car to Ohsweken Speedway on Friday night in search of the $3,000 Northern Summer Nationals winner’s cheque. When the dust settled, Daggett was indeed standing in Engine Pro Racing victory lane after winning both his heat race and qualifying race, and leading every lap of the twenty-five lap feature. Devin Habiuk and Abel Castelein repeated as winners of the ESSO Thunder Stocks and ESSO Mini Stocks respectively, while Adam Reidel and Karl Sault got the twin Bomber feature wins.

“NORTHERN SUMMER NATIONALS” SPRINT CARS
Dustin Daggett and Glenn Styres started the twenty-five lap feature on the front row, and Daggett was on a mission right from the beginning. Tom Huppunen moved up from fifth to second on the first lap, and held the runner-up spot behind Daggett for the first ten laps until the caution flew for Kyle Moffit’s spin in turn two.

The green flag came back out with five lapped machines between leader Daggett and the rest of the field. Glenn Styres moved back to second after falling to fourth behind Ryan Grubaugh earlier in the race, while Huppunen was starting to have problems under the hood of his #12c.

Daggett was out front by a substantial margin as the race wound down to its conclusion, while the rest of the top ten spots were up for grabs. Only five laps were left to complete when twenty-third starter Bryan Howland made it into the top ten. Howland was up to seventh when the caution and then red flew for Moffit in turn four after contact with Daggett. Moffit emerged from his damaged machine uninjured, but was done for the night. Tom Huppunen also took the #12c to the pit area, ending his bid for a repeat Summer Nationals triumph.

All eyes were on Daggett, whose right rear tire had made contact with Moffit. Daggett was not to be denied his seventh career feature win at Ohsweken though, and got the win by almost four and a half seconds over Styres, Grubaugh, Dave Dykstra, and Bobby Breen. Hard charger Howland got sixth, followed by Mike Ling, Jared Zimbardi, Dain Naida, and Jim Huppunen.

“I was kind of wondering if that right rear was going to stay up,” said Daggett in victory lane. “It did get a little low on that red (flag), and the car was really tight those last couple laps, but it held up long enough.”

“I just gotta say thanks to my whole crew,” continued Daggett. “This is a brand new car. We put it together last week, and first night out on it, it seems to be a really good one.”

The track was much more slick and dry than it has been for other Daggett wins, and he commented on it after the race:

“Last year’s Canadian Nationals really made me mad, because we just went backwards in that and the car was junk,” said Daggett. “We got a different shock package for here this year, and it seems to be working out really well – the car was fast tonight.”

ESSO THUNDER STOCKS
Ryan Dinning and Ed McNamara started the twenty lap ESSO Thunder Stock feature on the front row, and Dinning quickly opened up a large gap on the field. While Dinning was pulling away out front, the rest of the field was involved in a torrid fight for positions within the top ten, sometimes going three and four wide.

Mike Thorne – back after a hard crash last week – eventually got free of the pack and chased Dinning down. As those two battled for the lead, eleventh starter Devin Habiuk ran both down and drove by them into the lead. Habiuk took off out front leaving Dinning and Thorne to go at it for the runner-up spot, which was eventually claimed by Thorne.

“It’s fun…I have a blast here,” said Habiuk, who is now undefeated in two starts at Ohsweken in 2010. “It’s a wide open track. I just stuck it on the bottom and picked off as many guys as I could…My Dad told me the car was fast on the top, so I went to the top and here I am. I didn’t think I’d be winning back to back, so this is awesome!”

Heat races for the nineteen car field were claimed by Dinning and Cox.

ESSO MINI STOCKS
Abel Castelein started from the pole again this week in the fifteen lap ESSO Mini Stock feature, with Drew Spencer on the outside. Castelein got the early lead when the green flag dropped, but he couldn’t break free of the pack this week.

Mike Evers was the first to move up and challenge Castelein for the top spot, while the rest of the field jostled for position, often four wide. Kevin Hilborn and Trevor Goulding eventually broke free of the pack, and moved by Evers to take their shots at Castelein.

Despite having six laps left on the board when he got into second, Hilborn could do nothing with Castelein this time after missing out on a win by mere inches last week. Castelein cruised to his second feature win in a row, followed by Hilborn, Goulding, Evers, and Steve Hess.

Heat race wins for the twenty-three car field went to Goulding, Hilborn, and Castelein.

BOMBERS
A record twenty-six Bombers signed in for action on Friday night, and were once again split into two groups for feature racing on the infield oval. The first feature found tenth starting Adam Reidel chasing down early leader Jeremy Hughes to get his second win in a row. Hughes settled for second, followed by Kacey Huffman, Jesse McDonald, and Matt Jansen.

The second feature had more good racing, as championship leader Karl Sault sliced his way from eighth to the lead and got the win. John Cote finished second, followed by twelfth starter Lee Hils, Matt Smith, and Chris Rivers.

NEXT WEEK AT OHSWEKEN
Wiseco Piston and Evers Financial present “Mid-Season Championship” night next Friday, July 9. Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprints, ESSO Thunder Stocks, ESSO Mini Stocks, and Bombers, plus another visit from the Vintage Cars are all part of round seven of Friday Night Thunder. Gates open at 6:00 with racing starting at 7:45!